June date for new Apostolic Constitution

A NEW Apostolic Constitution governing the Roman Curia, Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), will come into force on 5 June, Vatican News reported on Monday. It will replace Pastor Bonus, promulgated in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. The Prefect of the Congregation for Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, who assisted Pope Francis in drawing up Praedicate Evangelium, told a press conference that the document was many years in the making, work having started on it at the 2013 conclave. It “brings to completion the reform of the Roman Curia”, Vactican News reported. Reforms include “the increasingly important role of the laity in the Roman Curia and the possibility they have to hold positions of authority and governance”, and the “reorganisation of offices regarding the economic and financial areas of the Holy See”, Vatican News reported.

Religious freedom crackdown in Cuba, says CSW

DOCUMENTED violations of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Cuba rose last year “amid a widespread crackdown on unprecedented civil unrest”, a new report published by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) says. The report, Homeland, Faith, Life: A call for freedom in Cuba, was published on Tuesday. It documents 272 cases involving 498 violations of religious freedom in 2021, up from 203 cases in 2020 and 260 in 2019. Violations included “arbitrary detention, denial of religious visas, threats, harassment and physical abuse, forced closure of places of worship, prevention from attending religious services, prevention from travelling abroad, and the loss of employment”, CSW said in a press release.

Presidential awards for Episcopalian racial-justice advocate

THE executive director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, in the diocese of Atlanta, Dr Catherine Meeks, was awarded a 2022 Presidential Award Lifetime Achievement last week. She was also presented with the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award medal. Dr Meeks’s “years of dedicated service to this great nation have made a difference in the lives of many”, the award citation said.

Myanmar military committed genocide, says Blinken

CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE (CSW) has welcomed a statement from the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that the military of Myanmar has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people. In a speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Monday, Mr Blinken said: “Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide was committed seven times. Today marks the eighth, as I have determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya.” CSW’s senior analyst for East Asia, Benedict Rogers, said on Tuesday: “CSW welcomes the US government’s decision to name the Myanmar army’s crimes against the Rohingya for what they are: genocide.”